From Lonnie Wheatley
Dodge City, KS — (April 11, 2015) — Ty Williams beat not only a stout field of DCRP Sprint Cars but Mother Nature as well in Saturday night’s season-opener atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.
The Liberal, KS, native now calling Oklahoma home emerged from a torrid three-car battle for the lead with just four laps to go en route to winning the in the 20-lap DCRP Sprint Car feature as sprinkles strengthened over the final rounds.
With Jeremy Sigler topping IMCA Sport Modifieds, Michael Pepper best in IMCA Stock Cars and Cody Davis besting the IMCA Hobby Stocks prior to the Sprint Car main, rain forced the postponement of the night’s IMCA Modified main event night cap to the April 25 card.
Gridding the DCRP Sprint Car feature fifth, Williams was up to third behind Herbert and Ray Seemann within the opening pair of circuits.
With Herbert pacing the field from the pole position, Seemann and Williams dueled for second and began pressuring Herbert for the point after a dozen laps.
Williams prevailed from the three-way duel, edging ahead of Seemann for second by the 14th round and then using the top side of turns one and two to race by Herbert for keeps on the 16th circuit. Seemann slipped another pair of positions, with C.J. Johnson and Luke Cranston turning up the heat as the laps wound down.
Racing three-wide off the final corner, Herbert held on for runner-up honors with Cranston taking the show position from his sixth starting position. Johnson was fourth while Seemann rounded out the top five.
Koby Walters was sixth with Connor Atkinson racing from 18th to seventh after transferring from “B” Main action. Zach Blurton was eighth with Cody Lampe and Keefe Hemel completing the top ten.
The feature was interrupted by a red flag after four laps when Taylor Velasquez was unable to avoid a slowing Kris Moore and tumbled into the outside wall after climbing a right rear. Velasquez was uninjured.
Herbert, Walters, Cranston and Seemann topped heat race action for the 29-car field with Jake Greider holding off Atkinson to win the “B” Main. Brandon Sprott flipped in the “B”.
Dodge City Raceway Park – Opening Night Results:
DCRP Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. E85-Jon Freeman, 3. 11-Keefe Hemel, 4. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 5. 17-Connor Atkinson, 6. 18-Brandon Sprott, 7. 2-James Riner, 8. 3-Ryan Walters.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 33-Koby Walters, 2. 6-Kaden Taylor, 3. 1x-Cody Lampe, 4. 21r-Jeff Radcliffe, 5. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 6. 17x-Craig Jecha, 7. 9d-Lance Davis.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 911-Ty Williams, 3. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 4. 7J-Richie Dewell, 5. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 6. 7r-Beau Ricke. DNS: 19g-Josh Gilcrease.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 72-Ray Seemann, 2. 49-Kris Moore, 3. 2j-Zach Blurton, 4. 20g-Jake Greider, 5. 10-Jordan Knight, 6. 11k-Tyler Knight, 7. 67-Damien Cain.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 20g-Jake Greider, 2. 17-Connor Atkinson, 3. 17x-Craig Jecha, 4. 2-James Riner, 5. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 6. 9d-Lance Davis, 7. 10-Jordan Knight, 8. 3-Ryan Walters, 9. 19g-Josh Gilcrease, 10. 18-Brandon Sprott. DNS: 11k-Tyler Knight, 7r-Beau Ricke, 67-Damien Cain.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 911-Ty Williams, 2. 97-Brian Herbert, 3. 20-Luke Cranston, 4. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 5. 72-Ray Seemann, 6. 17-Connor Atkinson, 7. 33-Koby Walters, 8. 2j-Zach Blurton, 9. 1x-Cody Lampe, 10. 11-Keefe Hemel, 11. 20g-Jake Greider, 12. 2-James Riner, 13. 17x-Craig Jecha, 14. E85-Jon Freeman, 15. 6-Kaden Taylor, 16. 7j-Richie Dewell, 17. 49-Kris Moore, 18. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 19. 21r-Jeff Radcliffe, 20. 88j-Jeremy Huish.